Welcome back everyone to the final installment in the five part Akito the Exiled Episode Recap Series!! I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I have. I may or may not start doing episode recaps because of this series, but it is definitely something I am thinking about. Anyway, we have a very interesting episode ahead of us, so let’s get started!!

Here is the Episode Recap for Episode 5: To Beloved Ones!!

The episode kicks off right where we left off in the last episode. The Ark is falling out of the sky with Yukiya still on board. Ryo pushes forward to rescue him but Ayano stops him because the Ark has crashed into a lake and their Knightmares will become unable to function. Akito and Leila arrive and luckily Anna mentions that they can use Akito’s Knightmare to connect to Yukiya’s and deploy the airbags which will allow his cockpit to float to the surface of the lake. They succeed but Yukiya is serious injured and needs treatment immediately. The W-0 then returns to the base.

He finally got some water!

Back on the Britannian side of things, the knights who work under Shin are attempting to regroup and see what Knightmares are still functional. Jean appears and orders them to advance, but the men are wary because they lost ⅔ of their forces. They argue but Shin orders her to let them retreat if they want to. He then says that “He will kill them all”. We then see Lelouch and Suzaku, who are still stuck in prison and Lelouch is still asking for water. Suzaku gets it for him this time, but Suzaku decides to try and strangle him instead. However, when Lelouch does not resist and tells Suzaku to kill him, Suzaku lets him go. Suzaku then tells him that they are both going to return to Nunnally.

General Smilas and his forces are heading out as Yukiya is undergoing an operation to save his life. Thankfully, a friend of Dr. Sophie Randall’s is able to connect with them via the internet and is performing the operation. It ends in a success and Leila discusses her plans with Akito, Warwick, and Ashely. While Yukiya did destroy ⅔ of the enemy, they are still outnumbered. Oscar Hamel’s squad will be covering fire during the operations but there will not be much else they can do. Ashley asks them to prepare a Knigthmare for himself because he wants to seek revenge on Shin for trying to kill him.

Later that night, Ashley gets past enemy lines to talk with Jean. He discusses what the two of them have in common, both having been abandoned as babies and saved by Shin, and that they can no longer trust Shin because he has been possessed by something evil. However, there is someone who is trying to save him from that evil. Ashley urges to Jean to try and help Akito because he believes that no one else is capable of saving Shin. With that said he leaves.

Early the next morning, the Britannians begin their attack on the castle. They fire a large cannon at the wall, and the W-0 is waiting for them. The cannon fire does not succeed to break down the wall, and the W-0 counter with weapons that appear on the wall. When the front line tries to retreat, Shin shoots at them and orders them to stay put. It then shows his Geass going into both eyes. The Britannians are able to breach the wall when a Knightmare loaded with explosives charge the wall and break it down. The next group then enters the Castle grounds but is stopped by some traps that they have in place. The W-0 then starts a counterattack on the remaining Britannian troops. Shin then enters the battle and orders his troops to take over the command center, and he begins to fight with Ashley and Akito.

We then see a clip of Leila and Akito from before the battle started. Akito cuts off his braid and asks Leila to hold onto it for him. He says that it is likely that his body will be burned in the battle. Leila take it but says that she wants him to come back because there are some things that she has not talked to him about yet. She makes him promise that he will come back alive with all of their comrades. Back to the present, the W-0’s defenses blow up a portion of the grounds that the Britannian’s have invaded as Yukiya wakes up after sleeping for almost seven days. He and Ayano then head out to sortie as well.

The Britannians push farther into the grounds as the W-0 tries their best to hold them back. However, they are able to circle the command tower and Jean is able to take over the launch center for Apollo’s Chariot. Jean is hacks into the system and is about to launch Apollo’s Chariot when Ayano appears to try and top her. They both exit their Knightmares and Ayano attempts to convince Jean to help them as Jean fires shots at her. Ayano is successful at stopping her and hugs Jean as Jean asks her what exactly she should do to help Shin. Shin and Akito continue their fight as Shin orders Akito to die and Akito refuses to do so. This appears to affect everyone else in the W-0 unit who are currently in their Knightmares. Then suddenly both Akito and Shin disappear along with their Knightmares.

Akito wakes up in a space where a flashback begins to play. It shows Shin the day Akito was born and he was introduced to him with a large group of people. Shin mentions that at that point he already knew who Akito’s biological father was. We then see Akito’s mother right after Shin’s father killed Akito’s real father, with his mother begging for Shin’s father to kill her as well to free her from his shackles. Shin’s father says that what she did is no problem for the progression of time, and that her punishment is to stay with him until she dies. Shin’s current body appears along with Akito and Shin tells him that when he heard their mother say that he was insulted to have her as his mother, to which Akito says “She is still their mother though”.

Back in the Castle, everyone in the Knightmare’s brains are going crazy because their brain waves have resonated with Akito’s. Dr. Randall then proceeds to explain that what is mental could become physical, and with that whatever you imagine mentally could lead to changed the world that you live in. Just then the Britannians break into the command center. A sudden flashback shows Shin obtaining his Geass power from a floating skull shortly after he killed his own father. Returning to the command center, the Britannians are outside the door of the command room and Leila orders them to retreat to the command vehicle. They break through and kill everyone except for Leila before their commanding officer orders them to stop, horrified at what they have done.

Leila’s Geass activates and she appears in a random park where she is talked to by a younger version of her parents. She then sees all of the W-0 yelling for Akito, and a glimpse into Dr. Randall’s room shows her husband beginning to wake up. Leila then sees Akito fighting Shin in warped space as well as Shin meeting Manfredi and a scene between Shin and his adoptive family. She then appears to have gone back in time to right before the attack with everyone else still alive, but frozen in time. A woman then appears and says she is a part of the collective conscious, a group of people who intervene in the evolution of the universe. She explains that they serve to grant the wish of those with Geass, but that Leila’s is strange because hers is only a fragment of Geass. The woman tells Leila that she thinks humans cannot handle Geass, and that it would be better that they all go extinct. However, she also says that Leila could be the person who changes that opinion “If only she can stop the man cursed with his power”. Leila then returns to the command center with everyone still alive before the attack happened.

This time, Leila has the wall filled with anti-explosive gel so that the Britannians cannot break down the door. Akito and Shin appear back in the real world, their battle still ongoing. Leila negotiates with the Britannian commander attempting to break in when Akito appear to her. He tells her of a picture that was on the wall in the room he was born. It was of an angel and a woman that resembled Leila. He says he does not particularly like the picture but is fond of the woman’s expression. Leila then orders everyone to abandon the command tower.

Shin cuts off one of the arms on Akito’s Knightmare, and as the battle continue both Ryo and Ashley enter the fight. As Leila runs towards the battle, Shin and Akito grab their sword and exit their Knightmares. They start a sword fight as the other W-0 members call out to Akito. We then get another flashback of Shin after the rest of their clan died. Little Akito is the only survivor, and Shin comments that he can do nothing while he watched Akito suffer. In the present, Akito begs Shin to stop but Shin says there is no point because people love to kill no matter what. Shin then lunges forward and cuts Akito with his sword as Shin says he will kill Akito. He says that everyone must die and Akito will be saved upon his death. As Shin goes to kill Akito, the ghosts of Akito’s former comrades, Manfredi, and his adoptive family appear and tell him that if he loves Akito he will try and save him no matter what. However, the way that he is trying to save Akito is not the right way he should do thing.

Shin disagrees however and says they are just speaking under an illusion. The ghost of Shin and Akito’s mother appears and once begs him to spare Akito. She says she loves Akito and Shin equally but this leads to Shin stabbing her ghost and continuing to cut Akito as Leila runs up. Shin corners Akito and is about to kill him when Leila’s Geass activates once again. It causes more ghosts to appear as well as the spirits of those in the Castle who are still alive and they all beg Shin not to kill Akito. He pushes past them all and is about to stab Akito when Jean places herself in front of Akito and is stabbed by Shin instead. At the same time Jean shoots Shin in the chest with her gun.

As Jean dies, she begs Shin to free himself. Shin scoffs at her and says that she knows nothing, to which Jean replies “I know that I love you”. Akito notices Shin’s wound and catches him as he falls to the ground. Shin pushes him away but Akito says that he cannot leave him. We then go to yet another flashback of little Akito and Shin, which is actually a really cute scene between the two. Back to the present, Shin pushes Akito away again and says that Akito is not alone and that he should live. Shin stands up and walks over to Jean’s body where her ghost appears and his declares that they shall be together from now on. However, it was actually both of their ghosts and Shin died next to Jean’s body holding her hand. We then get a glimpse of everyone in the Castle, all of which are alive, as well as Dr. Randall’s husband who has woken up from his coma. We then see General Smilas’ troops attacking a Britannian base. Ashley warps in out of nowhere as his Ashura Squad is fighting the EU troops. The woman Leila encountered appears and says that Ashley’s squad is much more honorable than Smilas’. She disappears and Ashley breaks into their command center and kills Smilas’ and his underlings.

As the credits roll, we see that a good part of the W-0 unit has gone back to live with the old gypsy ladies as well as Ashley and his squad. Akito approaches Leila and asks if living with the gypsies is a good idea. Leila asks if he thinks it isn’t, but Akito just says he’s okay with it as long as his new family is with him. They head back towards everyone as Akito calls Leila by her name for the first time and she quickly kisses him as everyone looks on.

But wait? Aren’t we forgetting something? Ah yes, the last minute of the series is of Suzaku and Lelouch sitting in their cell still. Footsteps approach and the doors open revealing Rolo along with two other hooded men. Rolo informs Suzaku that the Emperor as agreed to another audience with Julius Kingsley. Suzaku does not look too pleased as Rolo ends the show with “Shall we return to Britannian, Sir Kururugi?”

And that is how it ends! I guess this kind of leads to the events that set up the second season of Lelouch of the Rebellion. We really do not know what happens between them but that’s okay. The only infuriating part was they waiting until the last 50 seconds to free Lelouch and Suzaku, and when I watched the episode I remember sitting there in the last few minutes going “Wait, Lelouch and Suzaku are still in prison. Who’s going to free them?” Then they had Rolo get them out and I fangirled a little bit (not only because of the third familiar face in the show but also because I loved Rolo during Lelouch of the Rebellion’s second season).

I think that the episode did end the series pretty nicely, although it did try to explain some more about the brains and Leila’s Geass that I still do not understand. I still do not really know how any of the Geass in this show worked, having only been exposed to a few in the original series, and the “collective conscious” that showed up really confused me. Not everything was explained which bothered me. I did enjoy the show as a whole though. It was a nice little piece of nostalgia and told a story of a place and people we did not get to see during the original show. Akito did develop as a character quite a bit and it was nice to see him accept his unit as his new family.

And that is all that I have for this time! This is also the last post to celebrate Anniversary Month! I hope you have enjoyed the past month, and don’t worry I have more content that will be coming out soon! But what did you guys think? Did you like the series? Favorite character? Any other thoughts? Feel free to leave them down in the comments below!!

"I am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace. I am protector of the innocent. I am the light in the darkness. I am truth. Ally to good! Nightmare to you!" - Goku